Kadikova, Irina F.; Lavrentyeva, Elena V. Chemical Composition of Paints and Primers as an Important Aspect of the Attribution of Late Russian Icons from the Urals Region

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa2313-9-61
Title Chemical Composition of Paints and Primers as an Important Aspect of the Attribution of Late Russian Icons from the Urals Region
Author email Lavrentyeva_Elena@mail.ru
About author Kadikova, Irina F. — head of the Laboratory of Physicochemical Research. The State Research Institute for Restoration, Gastello ul., 44/1, 107114 Moscow Russian Federation; kadikovaif@gosniir.ru; SPIN-code: 4739-8030; ORCID 0000-0002-7271-0752 Lavrentyeva, Elena V. — Ph. D., researcher. The State Research Institute for Restoration, Gastello ul., 44/1, 107114 Moscow, Russian Federation; Lavrentyeva_Elena@mail.ru; SPIN-code: 4495-3582; ORCID: 0000-0003-3486-4862
In the section Interdisciplinary Methods in the Research on Cultural Heritage DOI10.18688/aa2313-9-61
Year 2023 Volume 13 Pages 767–780
Type of article RAR Index UDK 75.03 Index BBK 85.143(2)
Abstract

The article presents the results of the chemical analysis of the paint layer and primer of the Old Believer icons of the 18th century from the Urals (Nevyansk icon painting) and describes the changes in the composition of the artists’ palette during that century. An important part of the work was the study of more than twenty dated icons from the largest Ural collections. It was revealed that the icons of the first half of the 18th century were characterized by the following set of pigments: ochre of various shades, vermilion, red organic pigment, red lead, lead white, glauconite, synthetic azurite, copper resinate, natural indigo, less often — smalt. In the icons of the second half of the century the set of pigments changes: 1. glauconite and indigo are no longer used; 2. Prussian blue becomes an integral part of the artistic palette; 3. orpiment is widely used, both in its pure form and in mixed paints; 4. а number of minerals (natural malachite, crocoite, realgar), which are extremely rare in other centers of late Russian icon-painting, appear in the use of Nevyansk icon painters. Since malachite and crocoite are local minerals, their identification in the late Russian icons allows us to clarify the attribution and often indicates the Uralic origin of the items. In addition, our research has shown, that in the Nevyansk icon painting of the 18th century calcium sulfate was used as a primer, in most cases in the form of anhydrite.
Keywords
Reference Kadikova, Irina F.; Lavrentyeva, Elena V. Chemical Composition of Paints and Primers as an Important Aspect of the Attribution of Late Russian Icons from the Urals Region. Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 13. Eds A. V. Zakharova, S. V. Maltseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova. — Lomonosov Moscow State University / St. Petersburg: NP-Print, 2023, pp. 767–780. ISSN 2312-2129. http://dx.doi.org/10.18688/aa2313-9-61
Publication Article language russian
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